REO and short sale listings do not qualify for our flat fee brokerage model. Territory will collect a full commission on transactions involving any short sale or bank owned listings.

“Sorry folks park’s closed”

We didn’t want to, but we had to do it. Short sales are almost fake listings. Agents tell you the listings are for sale but nine times out of ten they aren’t really for sale. Most of the short sale listings in the MLS database have not been pre-approved at their listing price. This means that the banks haven’t even agreed to sell them at full price! We worked a lot of these deals and they turned out to be a waste of time for everyone. Bank owned listing are better but not much. Most offers aren’t responded to until their are competing bids and the deals take about 10 times the amount of work.

New policy effective immediately.

With deals totaling almost $15Million, Territory is talking BIG savings for our home buyer clients, but what are they actually doing with these big savings?

Imagine this (because it happened!), Territory negotiates $60,000 off a properties list price PLUS hands that new home owner a rebate check in the amount of $8,000. Suddenly there is real money to invest in the property to not only add future resale value but also increase their quality of life. Well, this is exactly what our fabulous clients in Somerville did with their grand total of $68,000 in savings!

With 3000 square feet of living space there were plenty of areas to make some upgrades so to start they chose to add a formal entry way/foyer:

Before:

After (extended family already enjoying it):

And also finish the basement into a proper media room:

Before

After

What is next for these Somerville clients? They say landscaping. Thanks for sharing and we look forward to more pictures!

11 Wyman Street - Unit Loft 3A | List Price: $639,000 | Territory Rebate: $14,175

You read that correctly … If you buy unit 3A through Territory Real Estate you will save $14,175, and that’s before we even begin price negotiations. That’s a lot more savings than the $3,800 a brokerage like Zip Realty offers, and way more than the $0 any traditional real estate firm like, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s and Century 21, offers.

See It at an Open House | Buy It and Save!

I went to take a look at a couple of open house units in Jamaica Plain yesterday and came a cross a great project just off Centre Street. The JP Lofts @ the Wyman Street School House…

“Live at JP’s hippest new address! Introducing the JP Lofts at the Wyman Street School House. 13 dramatic loft style residences in a converted century old school house. These bold and spacious loft residences are centrally located in Jamaica Plain, an easy walk to popular shops and restaurants, Jamaica Pond, & both the Orange and Green “T” lines. JP Lofts combine the richness of a lovingly restored historic building, with original detail, grand windows and soaring ceilings, coupled with beautifully designed kitchens and bathrooms tailored for modern living.

Units range from +/- 1200 sq/ft two bedroom/two bath flats with 12’ ceilings, to unbelievable penthouse triplex residences with 16’ ceilings, top floor master suites & roofdecks!”

Unit 3A is a triplex loft residence featuring a first floor living area with 16′ ceilings + arched windows, a Viking applianced kitchen, full travertine tiled bath and a second bedroom. A metal and glass staircase leads up to the mezzanine level, which overlooks the living room below, on its way to the top floor master suite w/private bath and access to a wrap around deck with city views. The unit is spread across 1770 square feet ($361.02 per) and includes two off-street parking spaces.

Check out the pics on this. They speak for themselves.

Our very talented friend over at Elements of Style is looking to sell her gorgeous JP Condo. You can’t go wrong with this place, it has all the bells and whistles … Oh, and of course style! It has even graced the cover of the Boston Globe, and if you buy it, you get 10 FREE hours of design time with Erin Gates!
Here are the details (in the words of Erin herself):

28 Prince Street, Boston, MA

The unit is the first floor of an craftsman style home, renovated in 2007 on one of the prettiest and most desirable streets of the Pondside area of Jamaica Plain- Jamaica Pond at one end, the Arnold Arboretum at the other end! Perfect for a young family, this area of Boston is a fantastic mix of a suburban neighborhood feel (there is a street potluck every summer) with the convenience of the city. The shops and restaurants of Center Street are a 5 minute walk and you can be in Back Bay or at Fenway in 10 minutes!

The details:
*1,450 square feet.
* 3 large bedrooms/ 2 full marble and granite baths.
* Central air/ heat and radiant heat floors in the kitchen and baths for chilly winter mornings!
* Renovated HUGE eat in kitchen with granite, stainless steel appliances.
* Pantry with wine fridge and built in wine rack and glass cabinetry.
* Private patio/yard and deck.
* Wood burning fireplace.
* Tons of storage and half the basement deeded to the unit for storage (full size washer and dryer down there) or could be finished for a gym/ workshop/etc.
* Featured on the cover and in the Boston Globe Magazine.
* Included with purchase is a 10 hours of design time with Erin Gates of Element Interiors to make the space your own (would also entertain selling it furnished if desired)!

Does this place sound and look like the perfect home for you? Find out what we think it’s worth by emailing us here: value@territoryre.com

You may have noticed that we recently changed some things on the Territory website. For example instead of our old “The Buyer’s Broker” slogan you will now find “Do It Yourself and Save”.

The changes reflect a question that we have debated around the Territory Headquarters endlessly over the last few years: What do buyers prefer, a great agent or no agent at all? It’s our understanding that while buyers love our Territory Guides and the service they deliver - especially our property evaluations - they would still prefer to find a home online, take a look in person, do a little research and then buy a property with minimal amount of negotiation. It seems that in the ideal world Territory home buyers would prefer to avoid dealing with a real estate agent - buyer’s or seller’s agent.

When Marla and I launched Territory we attempted to deliver on this ideal. It’s the reason we branded our agents as “Guides” and it’s why we deliver 100% transparency by displaying every piece of information about a property on our website (no need to call an agent just to get an address!). Our original “Solo” program allowed buyers, who had found homes they wanted to purchase via open houses, to make offers directly through our website using our “buy it” tool. It was a no frills service. We offered no tours, no evaluations and we charged a rock bottom flat-fee of $2,000!

Everything was great except for two things: We were driving cooperating (seller’s) agents bonkers which made them very difficult to work with and it turned out most of our buyer clients actually needed a little more hand holding than they - and we - originally thought. We did some deals this way, fought for the commissions and won, but we were losing buyers by the boatload.

We decided that for the company to succeed we would have to compromise. We upped our flat fee - even experimenting briefly with a percentage based commission - and began offering tours, property evaluations and pretty much anything else needed to get our clients the property they wanted. It worked - today we are closing more than a deal a week and our buyer clients are loyal to a fault - but there was a cost to our compromise. We have turned into the real estate agents - albeit GREAT real estate agents who have saved our clients millions of dollars.

When we first launched Territory we were in a seller’s market, we had well funded competitors in BuySide Realty and Redfin, and cooperating agents were threatened by the idea of web-based competition. Today much of this has changed. We are facing a long term buyer’s market - although, we believe it is always a buyer’s market - BuySide has folded, Redfin has transitioned into a traditional brokerage and most cooperating agents accept web-based agencies as part of the status quo.

Looking out onto this new landscape Marla and I see an opportunity to revisit our original vision: To help home buyers buy without the hassle or expense of a real estate agent. What do you think? Do you prefer a great agent or no agent at all? We’d love to hear the feedback.

Terry Sanford
President - Territory Real Estate